Last modified on 2026-07-07

By Combe Martin Village History Project © 2023-2026

Last modified on July 07, 2026 | First published in July 2023

Permissions: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Related article: Combe Martin Hemp Archaeology

Summary

Combe Martin’s steep Umber Valley powered one of North Devon’s most diverse industrial landscapes for over 700 years. From medieval manorial corn mills to monastic fulling, silver‑lead smelting, shipbuilding, and pigment extraction, the valley’s waterpower shaped the community’s economy, identity, and topography.

Key Points

• First milling record: 1198 Feet of Fines — confirms active watermills in Combe Martin parish.

• Manorial monopoly: Two medieval corn mills (Higher Mill & Lower Mill) operated under soke rights, requiring all tenants to grind grain at the lord’s mills.

• Monastic industry: 12th‑century Cluniac hemp and fulling complex uncovered by 2008 archaeological fieldwork.

• Industrial expansion: Mills later adapted for silver‑lead smelting (1845), shipbuilding (1830s–40s), and umber pigment extraction (18th–19th centuries).

• Decline: Cheap imported grain and failing mines led to closure by c.1902.

• Legacy: Surviving millstones, weirs, place names, and archaeological remains preserve one of North Devon’s most important industrial heritage landscapes.

Why It Matters: Combe Martin’s mills demonstrate rare continuity from Norman feudalism through medieval textile production, Victorian heavy industry, and early 20th‑century horticulture — a uniquely layered industrial history shaped by the valley’s geology and waterpower.

Key Takeaways

• • A History of Combe Martin Mills and Milling: the historic vital role of mills and millers linked to the River Umber, in the industrial, economic, and social heritage of Combe Martin Valley, on the edge of Exmoor, North Devon.

  • Corn in British English has historically denoted all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley (Cambridge Dictionary). In older British literature, a "cornfield" likely referred to a field of wheat.

  • Centuries of Continuity: Combe Martin’s two primary corn mills—Higher Mill (near the Pack o' Cards Inn) and Lower Mill (at Borough Road and Cross Street)—operated for roughly 700 years, tracing their origins back to at least the 12th century before closing in the mid-19th century.

  • Manorial Monopolies: In medieval and early modern times, the mills belonged to the Manor of Combe Martin. Under the feudal "multure" system, a fee for grinding grain at a mill: local peasants were legally required to grind their grain at the lord’s mills, paying a toll equal to one-sixteenth of their corn.

  • Industrial Versatility: While primarily used as grist mills for grinding cereal grain into flour and animal feed, Combe Martin's water systems were versatile. Over the centuries, hydropower was utilised for medieval hemp stripping, textile processing (fulling), and briefly in the 1840s to drive bellows and crushing machinery for silver smelting.

  • The River Umber Lifeline: The constant flow of the River Umber, managed through engineered leats, weirs, and mill races, was the industrial backbone of the community. It provided a reliable, self-sustaining power source in an isolated village with poor regional transport links.

  • Social Hubs and Local Legends: Beyond manufacturing, the mills served as crucial community meeting grounds where locals exchanged news and conducted business. This integration into daily life made millers prominent local figures, who were frequently caught up in manorial property disputes and regional 18th-century smuggling networks.

  • The Technological Shift: The eventual mid-19th-century abandonment of Higher and Lower Mills marked the local end of a massive national heritage era—where over 10,000 watermills once dotted Britain—signalling the transition from rural water power to cheap electrical and industrial energy.

Abstract

This comprehensive study explores the historic vital role of mills and millers linked to the River Umber, in the industrial, economic, and social heritage of Combe Martin Valley, on the edge of Exmoor, North Devon.

Tracing their history from medieval origins and manorial monopolies through to their 19th-century decline, we examine how hydropower sustained local agriculture, mining, lumber production, and silver smelting.

In historical studies, the medieval period (the Middle Ages) is generally considered to span c. 500 CE to c. 1500 CE. It began after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the transition to the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. It was followed by the early modern period (c. 1500–1800 CE), a time marked by the Renaissance, the Reformation, overseas exploration, expanding global trade, and major scientific advances.

It ended around the French Revolution and the onset of the Industrial Revolution. In terms of Combe Martin's mills, the medieval era covers their 12th-century origins under manorial lords, while the early modern era covers their peak 16th- to 18th-century operations under local families before steam and electricity changed industry forever.

Beyond their mechanical and architectural evolution—including the strategic use of mill races, weirs, and various waterwheel designs—the village mills operated as essential community hubs.

We highlight the social and economic dynamics of the trade, detailing the legalities of the manorial multure system, property disputes, the trusted yet complex status of local millers, and their frequent links to regional smuggling.

Finally, this article reflects on the cultural legacy of these thousands of lost British mills, documenting the specific families who operated them before the advent of cheap electrical energy transformed rural industry forever.

Introduction and Overview

The history of the grist mills and other mills in Combe Martin reflects the village's long-standing use of water power for industrial purposes. The steep combes (deep valleys) of North Devon provided a greater head of water than many lowland regions, making overshot wheels considerably more efficient than undershot designs. These mills have long seen vanished from the landscape.

Here is a summary:

1. Number and Locations:

   • There were two primary corn mills in Combe Martin: Higher Mill and Lower Mill. Private mills were scattered around the parish.

   • Higher Mill: Located near the Pack o' Cards Inn, it was fed by a leat running from a pond at Cormelles Court.

   • Lower Mill: Situated at the junction of Borough Road and Cross Street, it was powered by a mill leat originating near Adderstable Woods.

   • Old Mill Stone: Set in the courtyard of dwellings at the top of Cross Street.

2. Historical Timeline:

   • Both mills are believed to have operated from around the 12th century, utilising water from the River Umber.

   • Higher Mill closed around 1850, marking the end of its use for corn milling.

   • Lower Mill also ceased operations around the mid-19th century.

3. Industrial Evolution:

   • For a brief period from 1845, the Lower Mill site was repurposed as a silver smelting mill by the Combe Martin and North Devon Smelting Company Limited.

   • However, this venture lasted only two years due to dwindling local ore supplies.

4. Legacy:

   • The mills played a crucial role in supporting agriculture and local trade during their operation.

   • Evidence of their existence remains in names like "Millweir Cottage" and historical mapping, which show the routes of the mill leats.

The corn mills highlight Combe Martin's medieval reliance on water power and its adaptability, during industrial transitions.

Their closure reflects broader changes in technology and industry during the 19th century.

Citations:
[1] https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/app/uploads/aonb_silver_smoke_strawberries-compressed-1.pdf
[2] https://www.combemartinvillage.co.uk/combe-martin-industrial-history
[3] https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/Data/Public%20Rights%20of%20Way%20Committee/20151126/Agenda/pdf-HCW-15-82.pdf
[4] https://www.helecornmill.com
[5] https://new.millsarchive.org/mills/index/?which=5738
[6] https://industrial-archaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1998-Industrial-Archaeology-of-Devon.pdf
[7] https://devon-cat.swheritage.org.uk/records/B1400
[8] https://helecornmill.com/watermill/

Combe Martin's Corn Mills History

As recorded after the Norman Conquest, Combe Martin's two corn mills were owned by the Manor and leased to a miller (CMLHG, p. 55, 1989). Most small villages once had to rely on mills and water for all their needs, and they were expected to grind their corn at their lord's mills.

The Historic Environment Record for Exmoor National Park lists hundreds of mill sites on Exmoor, dating from medieval times to the 19th century. 

Self-sustaining isolated communities, such as Combe Martin with its poor transport links, were no exception. 

In 1903, a mill-house located in Berrynarbor, the next village from Combe Martin, still had a waterwheel.

A picture postcard depicts Miss Jewell and her dog next to the mill wheel, which was powered by water falling from above.

Her father, John Jewell, served as the miller at this location from 1883 to 1906.

Dive into Combe Martin's history ˃  or Explore Combe Martin's Industrial History ˃ 

The Corn Miller

The corn miller was once an essential character in everyday life, and Combe Martin folk were taking corn to its two water-powered grist mills as late as the mid-nineteenth-century. Moreover, Combe Martin's River Umber and leats were a constant and convenient lifesaver for its mills, mines, fields and orchards. 

Domesday records no mills in Combe Martin in 1086, although there were ninety-odd mills in this county at the time.

Retaining the Rotary Quern: Traditional Milling Among the Shammickites

In the late nineteenth century, the residents of Combe Martin—still known in the local vernacular as 'Shammickites'—were still grinding corn at home using hand-querns. These were a pair of quern-stone tools, for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials. While large, water-powered corn mills had been the standard for commercial milling for centuries: hand-querns persisted in remote or tightly-knit rural communities as a tool for self-sufficiency.

These hand-querns consisted of a stationary bottom stone (the bedstone) and a manually rotated top stone (the runner stone) that crushed the grain between them when turned by a handle. Even as industrialised steam and large-scale water milling became widespread, Combe Martin households maintained this ancient technology.

By grinding small batches at home, they avoided the feudal-era "multure" tolls or commercial fees charged by municipal millers, while enjoying a versatile tool that could just as easily process malt for brewing, mustard seeds, and traditional herbs.

For direct archaeological data on stone-tool retention in the South West, the regional archaeological resource frameworks curated by Historic England serve as the definitive government and academic benchmark.

See:  Quern-stone.

How a Traditional English Corn Mill Worked

1. Grain Delivery & Storage (Top Floor)

   • Grain was brought to the mill, usually in sacks, and hoisted to the top floor using a pulley system.

   • Here, it was stored in bins or hoppers until needed for milling.

2. Feeding the Grain (Middle Floor)

   • Grain was fed from the storage bins into a hopper above the millstones.

   • The hopper slowly released grain into the hole (eye) at the center of the top millstone.

3. Grinding (Millstones)

   • The millstones (a pair of large, flat stones) did the actual grinding.

   • The upper stone (runner stone) rotated, powered by the waterwheel, while the lower stone (bedstone) remained stationary.

   • As the runner stone turned, it ground the grain between the stones, producing flour.

4. Flour Collection (Ground Floor)

   • The freshly ground flour was collected on the lower floor.

   • Millers bagged the flour for sale or further processing.

5. Power Transmission (Gears & Shafts)

   • The waterwheel’s rotation was transferred inside the mill via a main shaft.

   • Gears and cogs changed the direction and speed of the rotation to drive the millstones and other machinery.

6. Waterwheel & Millrace

   • The waterwheel was turned by water flowing along a millrace (a specially constructed channel).

   • The force of the water turned the wheel, which powered all the machinery inside the mill.

1. Top Floor (Grain Storage & Hoist):
   Where grain was hoisted up and stored before milling.

2. Middle Floor (Hopper & Feed Mechanism):
   Where grain was funneled into the millstones for grinding.

3. Millstones:
   The main grinding apparatus-two large stones that crushed the grain into flour.

4. Gearing (Power Transmission):
   The system of cogs and shafts that transferred the wheel’s motion to the millstones.

5. Ground Floor (Flour Collection & Packing):
   Where flour was collected and bagged.

6. Waterwheel:
   The large wheel turned by water, providing the mill’s power.

Summary of the Process

1. Grain is delivered and hoisted to the top floor.

2. Grain is stored, then fed through a hopper to the millstones.

3. The waterwheel, powered by flowing water, turns gears and the upper millstone.

4. Grain is ground between the stones into flour.

5. Flour is collected on the ground floor and bagged for use or sale.

This system was highly efficient for its time and was a vital part of rural life in England.

Citations:

Watts, Martin (2008): Corn Milling: No. 98 (Shire Library).

ISBN-10: ‎0747806713. ISBN-13:‎ 978-0747806714.

Fulling Mills

Fulling mills played a crucial role in the historical process of cloth production, specifically in the treatment of woollen cloth. The main purpose of fulling was to cleanse the wool of oils, dirt, and other impurities.

Fulling mills were water-powered industrial workshops used to finish woollen cloth. They mechanicalised one of the most grueling steps in medieval and early modern textile production: fulling (also known as tucking or walking). Before fulling mills were invented, this process was done entirely by human feet, with workers stomping on wet cloth in large tubs.

Details about fulling mills in Combe Martin are limited, though there is a record of one in the nearby rural settlement of Parracombe, on Exmoor.

Described as a Fulling Mill in 1543, the existing two-storey mill, a monument and grist mill possibly dating back to medieval times, has been converted into a residence. 

However, the Parracombe wheel has been preserved and is used to generate electricity, powered by a well-defined leat.

Find more information at Exmoor National Park Heritage, H.E.R. MDE1069 - Parracombe Mill (Building).

Also see the Parracombe village website: Parracombe Mill >  

Fulling is specific to wool because it involves the natural felting properties of wool fibres, which hemp and flax lack. Fabric was thickened by matting the fibres together, making the cloth stronger and more compact.

Manual Fulling and Retting 

Fulling: Workers manually stomped or beat cloth to clean and thicken it (tucking and walking). They often used their feet to tread on the cloth in a mixture of water and fuller’s earth (a type of clay) to remove oils and impurities.

Felting: The process of interlocking loose wool fibres, not necessarily spun or woven.

Retting: This process separated fibres from plant stalks like flax or hemp. Plants were soaked in water for several days to weeks, allowing bacteria to break down the pectin binding the fibers.

The softened stalks were then beaten to extract the fibers.

These methods demanded significant manual labour and time until water-powered machinery made them more efficient. Archaeological finds of “black pits” have been described as being possibly used as fulling pits.

See The Process of Fulling of Wool at Exarc.net >

Read about a hemp complex discovered in Combe Martin >

How Fulling Mills Worked
Water Power: Fulling mills were powered by water wheels, which converted the energy of flowing water into mechanical power. This power was essential for operating the heavy machinery involved in the fulling process.

Wooden Mallets: The water wheel’s energy was transferred via gears to operate large wooden mallets, also known as hammers or fulling stocks. These mallets would repeatedly pound the cloth.

Troughs and Fuller's Earth: The cloth was placed in long wooden troughs filled with a mixture of water and a cleansing agent, commonly fuller's earth, which is a type of clay rich in aluminum silicates.

Fuller's earth helped absorb oils and grease from the wool, enhancing the cleaning process.

Fuller's Earth: refers to a variety of clays that serve as absorbents, filters, or bleaching agents. Composed of aluminum magnesium silicate, it has been utilized for centuries to absorb dirt and oil.

Pounding Action: As the mallets continuously pounded the cloth, the fibers would mat together, resulting in a thicker, denser fabric. This pounding also helped to work out any remaining impurities from the cloth.

Thickening the Material: The key outcome of the fulling process was the thickening of the woolen cloth, which was crucial for creating a more durable and warmer fabric.

This thickened cloth would be more resilient and better suited for use in garments, especially in colder climates.

Fulling Mills in Historical Context

Fulling mills date back to medieval times and were often situated near rivers or streams, which provided the necessary water power.

Before the advent of fulling mills, the fulling process was done manually, usually by treading the cloth underfoot in a solution of water and cleansing agents, which was labour-intensive and less efficient.

The introduction of fulling mills was a significant technological advancement in the textile industry, helping to increase the production speed and quality of woolen cloth, which was a critical material in many societies for clothing and trade.

Further Reading:

Textiles and Clothing, c.1150-c.1450 by Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland (1992). This book provides detailed information on medieval textile production, including fulling for wool.

A History of Textiles by Kax Wilson (1979). This book covers the history and technology of textile production, including wool, flax, and hemp processing.

The Millers' Role in the Thriving Smuggling Economy

In the book "Smuggling in the British Isles: A History" by Richard Platt, published in 2011, the author provides a comprehensive account of the historical smuggling trade in Britain and Ireland.

Platt delves into the identities and motivations of the smugglers themselves, exploring who they were and why they engaged in these illicit activities.

And in the article "Smugglers’ Mills and Nefarious Thrills", by Lucy Noble (The Mills Archive, April 2024), "accounts attest that at one time, the jobs of milling and smuggling did in fact go hand in hand".

Sources suggest that the millers were able to take advantage of their legitimate business operations to facilitate the illicit movement of goods like tea, spirits, and tobacco. 

In his 1931 work "The Mills of Man", author George Long sheds light on the integral part played by local millers, during the peak of the smuggling trade in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

In this era, millers became vital cogs in the well-organized smuggling networks that flourished across the region. Millers were often entrusted with the task of transporting contraband goods to consumers.

This was an ingenious arrangement, as mills - whether powered by wind or water - were ubiquitous in every village and could easily conceal illicit items beneath sacks of grain or flour.

Even smaller mills without their own delivery capabilities could pass on the smuggled goods to customers who came to collect their regular flour supplies.

In this way, millers emerged as key players in the successful distribution of smuggled merchandise to towns and villages - an activity that, while not entirely clandestine, was tacitly accepted and benefited the entire local community.

As poetically captured in Rudyard Kipling's "A Smuggler's Song", those not directly involved often chose to "discreetly look the other way" when they heard the telltale sounds of the smugglers' midnight horse-drawn deliveries.

The millers' central role in this thriving yet secretive economy showcases the innovative and community-wide nature of the smuggling trade during this period of English history, as described in George Long's insightful 1931 publication "The Mills of Man".

Milling in Combe Martin

In the fourteenth-century, Combe Martin's two corn mills - Higher and Lower Mills - belonged to the Manor of Combe Martin and were leased to a miller. The lease conveyed both mills to the same person.

The Watermills of North Devon 1994 Group provides the history and details.

The "extent of the"inquisition post mortem" made on the death of the last of the Martins, dated 1326, says "and there are two water mills and they are worth 70 shillings per annum".

Watermills were expensive, built by the lord of the Manor and leased by him to a miller who paid a rent, and in his turn exacted a fee called "multure" or toll in kind.

Common in Britain, multures were set at a fixed proportion of the grain brought, or of the flour made. The rate of multure or fee was normally one sixteenth of the corn ground. 

Types of Mills in Britain

Watermills and windmills were the main types of mills before the Industrial Revolution. Watermills were simpler to construct than windmills, being developed at an earlier date. For large operations the materials for milling were stored in barns.

Watermills have several functions: one is to grind corn into flour, or grain for animal feed. Second: the waterwheel powers a sawmill for cutting lumber.

Third: waterwheels for blacksmiths keep a very large hammer simply going up and down, so that the smith can use its weight/power to shape hot metal.

Waterwheels also generated intense heat for smelting iron ore, by driving a pair of bellows.  Raw ores for the smelting process were stored at mill barns in the vicinity.

It is believed there were once well over ten thousand watermills in this country; a significant portion of our agricultural, cultural, and industrial heritage, and a significant game-changer.

Two Corn Mills in Combe Martin

The North Devon AONB publication Silver, Smoke and Strawberries states there were two corn mills in Combe Martin, and it is believed these mills operated from around the 12th Century.

Higher Mill stood near the Pack o' Cards Inn, and Lower Mill was situated at the junction of the A399 and Cross Street EX34 0DH [the Old Road before Borough Road appeared].

There is a Mill House on Cross Street, and a Mr William Somerville owned Lower Mill in 1902. 

Lower Mill was fed from a leat, which started just after the end of Adderstable woods accessible by footpath at the end of Barton Gate Lane EX34 0HQ.

Water was ponded on the site of Lovering's coach park on Borough Rd, and ran along an embankment by the Old Road which is now Cross Street. 

How Water Mills Work

Water mills use the flow of water to turn a large waterwheel, struck by water from an overshot or undershot feed. A shaft connected to the wheel axle transmits the power from the water.

Waterwheels come in two basic designs: a horizontal wheel with a vertical axle, or a vertical wheel with a horizontal axle. 

A system of gears and cogs worked machinery such as millstones or rotary querns to grind corn, or drive saw mills. Quern stone was imported although some was mined locally.

Seasonal Effects on Water Mills

Seasonal variations can significantly impact the water levels in streams and rivers, which are crucial for the operation of watermills.

During the summer months, there is a potential decrease in water levels caused by evaporation and reduced precipitation.

Reductions in water levels could severely impact milling productivity, particularly those with an undershot wheel design. The undershot wheel, positioned directly in the stream, relies on the water’s force to propel the wheel.

Conversely but similar to mine shafts, the winter season often brings increased rainfall leading to higher water levels.

Unlike mines, this increase could potentially enhance the mill’s power output. However, extreme winter conditions such as freezing temperatures presented additional challenges.

Mill Races and Weirs

Many mills were equipped with features such as mill races (canals flowing to and from mill wheels) and weirs (small-scale dams), to mitigate the issues arising from seasonal water level fluctuations.

These adaptations played a crucial role in regulating water levels, ensuring the mill’s constant operation throughout the year.

During the initial stages of water-milling in England, the flow of water was frequently regulated prior to reaching the waterwheel, primarily through the use of weirs or mill races.

In time, the stream was obstructed by a weir which elevated the water head. 

Attached to the weir was the millpond and lodge. The water was directed towards the waterwheel via a sluice or mill race, called the head race.

From the waterwheel, the water was redirected back to the stream’s course through a sluice, termed the tail race.

Numerous weirs, originally constructed to regulate water levels for a watermill, remain visible on contemporary rivers. Archaeological evidence provides instances of early mill races and weirs.

A notable British example includes the Mill Dam with Weir Sluice Gates and Mill Race, situated in Crosthwaite and Lyth, 5 miles west of Kendal, Cumbria. Historic England lists the Mill Dam site as a Grade 2 structure.

Combe Martin Steam Saw Mills 

Around the year 1835, local merchant and entrepreneur John Dovell established a steam saw mills and shipyard on the River Umber, near Combe Martin's Seaside quarter.

With highly-skilled craftsmen: Messrs Dovell, Partridge and Co specialised in building various kinds of ships, schooners being one of them.

North Devon Archaeological Society (NDAS) places a saw mill at The Old Saw Mill Restaurant adjoining Combe Martin, four miles from Ilfracombe.

NDAS also states that the sluice or channel turning the waterwheel, and the leat, were still at the location in 1989 (ibid).

Earliest Records of Mills in Combe Martin

The first documentary evidence of water milling comes from the "Feet of Fines" for the year 1198 (King Richard I).

In 1198, documents relate to the transfer of property, and mills are mentioned in a reference to 12 furlongs (2.4 kilometres) of land from the manor of Combe, Holdstone and Girt. 

"Feet of Fines" was a court copy of an agreement following a dispute over property. Such disputes were mostly fictitious; in reality they were the king's court's method of recording transfers of land ownership.

The Sixteenth-Century

A reference comes from the accounts of Combe Martin Manor in 1507, when it was stated that there was no rent received "from a certain grindstone, because of a broken pipe".

There is also a reference to a hemp mill in Combe Martin, which must have been used for stripping the hemp of its unwanted coverings. 

More documentary evidence of the Copmbe Martin mills from 1507 is in the accounts of John Lovering, Steward of the Manor or lord's deputy.

Combe Martin's two corn mills were leased for £4 a year, little more than in 1326, to William Lewis, perhaps after whom the site of Combe Martin Lewis Hill is named.

Miller John Peard

A John Peard connected to the mills in the 1700s is likely to be the churchwarden at Combe Martin Church during 1727.

With Timothy Harding, Mr Peard left his initials on the much-maligned plaster repair work to the St Peter ad Vincula Church roodscreen. 

There might have been been more than one prominent John Peard alive in this period but that seems unlikely.

The Eighteenth-Century Mills

In 1700 the two mills were mentioned in a dispute between Richard Stephens and Henry Usticke over ownership of the Manor. 

Also at this time, a lease of manor property at Lewis Hill - location unknown - to John Peard specified that corn and barley produced on the land must be ground at the manor mills.

In 1766, Anthony Saunders was lessee of the two corn mills and a malt mill at £31.4s per annum; the charge for grinding a bushel (a measure of eight gallons) was 4d.

Another reference to Lewis Hill in Combe Martin is for Jane Cutcliffe (Priscott) Edwards (1834 - 1908).

In 1841, Jane Cutcliffe lived with her father Charles Priscott, mother Mary Priscott, sisters Agnes Priscott, Jane Priscott and Mary Priscott and son William Priscott on Lewis Hill, Combe Martin.

In March 1851, Jane lived with her father Charles Priscott, mother Mary Priscott, sister Mary Priscott and lodger Elizabeth Willis at Lewis Hill Cottage, Coombe Martin].

Anthony Saunders was followed as mills tenant by John Witheridge, who leased the mills from Rebecca Watson, Lady of the Manor, in 1773, and in 1780 was paid 13s 4d by the Overseers of the Poor for taking John Gear as apprentice.

John Witheridge was succeeded in 1791 by his son William. In 1801, John Heddon was miller, followed in 1808 by James Oatway, maltster, of Barnstaple. 

In 1825 the great Combe Martin entrepreneur in the 19th century, John Dovell, also a maltster among his many activities, held the lease.

John Dovell was certainly tenant of the Higher Mill in 1845, although this mill had probably ceased working by 1850. In 1910, John Burgess occupied Lower Mill.

Burgess was Reeve of the Manor or general manager, appointed by the lord or elected by workers.

John Burgess appears on a 1910 photo commemorating the completion of the Combe Martin Drill Hall, now the Village Hall.

Combmartin Consols Mines 

At the former Combmartin Consols [Consolidated] Mines - closed down in 1865 - a mill dated to 1800-1899 is recorded. Its exact location a couple of miles from Combe Martin on the River Heddon, near Trentishoe, is not clear.

The Consol mines belonged to Combmartin and the reference is the Historic Exmoor Environment Record HER MDE21752. Around GR SS 6260 4645 at Verwill Lane EX34 0PE, are the remains of mining activity.

The Verwill Lane site was described by Dr Peter Claughton as the Combmartin Consols or Wheal Vervale silver lead mine.

The remains include spoil heaps, an alleged adit, and shafts. 'The stub of a dam also survives with a tail race leading from it' (Exmoor National Park HER, 2023). 

Combe Martin Mill 577471

The North Devon Mills Group (1994) confirms that a recorded watermill once stood in the grounds of The Pack o' Cards Inn, High Street, Combe Martin.

The leat for the mill - which runs throughout the village - once ran where the old police house now stands. There remains no trace of either (p.118).

Water-Powered Sawmill at Combe Martin

A water-powered saw mill existed in Combe Martin at grid reference SS 577 471; Lat and Long 51.20533500, -4.03836150.

This sawmill is listed on The Mills Archive database, ID 5739, and located near Combe Martin Beach Holiday Park, Woodlands EX34 0AS.

Hele Corn Mill at Hele Bay Near Ilfracombe

Not Combe Martin but serving as a good example: in List Entry Number 1203046, Historic England lists Hele Mill [The Old Corn Mill] as an eighteenth-century Corn Mill (Grade II).

The Hele Corn Mill & Tea Room website describes Hele Mill as a "unique 16th century water mill". Grid reference SS 53518 47607; Postcode EX34 9QY.

Four miles from Combe Martin and a fine example of North Devon corn milling: Hele Corn Mill at Hele near Ilfracombe has long been the only operating waterwheel in North Devon.

Hele Corn Mill and Tea Room is a reputable and popular venue; the mill was restored by the owner between 1973 and 1978.

The vertically mounted overshot waterwheel (18 feet in diameter) is rotated by water entering buckets just past the top of the wheel. Historic England says the Mill is of 'whitewashed rubble with a slate roof'. 

The interior is believed to retain the old mill machinery. In 1987, North Devon Archaeological Society (1987) stated that the overshot cast iron water wheel had survived in a dilapidated condition, and there was much machinery inside.

NDAS described the building as constructed of colour-washed rubble and two storeys in height with a slate roof. It was a grist mill, grinding cereal grain into flour and middling by-products.

Probably rebuilt in the 18th century, the building was once used for storage.

The overshot wheel is made of cast iron with wooden buckets. The wheel is 18 feet in diameter and 3 feet 8 inches wide.

The 46 buckets are made of elm. The mill machinery includes a smutter (a vertical machine used for removing diseased grain), an elevator and a grain hoist.

There are two sets of millstones of imported French Burr stone and conglomerate. There was originally a mill pond and three leats.

The present wheel was made by Garnish & Lemon of Pilton, Barnstaple in 1997 to replace the earlier wooden one. At this time most of the gearing was removed.

After World War II, when the wheel drove a generator to supply electricity, the mill fell into decay and the mill pond and two of the three leats were filled in.

The mill was restored by the owner between 1973 and 1978, and is now the only operative watermill in North Devon.

The one remaining leat does not supply sufficient water to power the mill in summer, and the water wheel was supplemented by a diesel engine and belting.

Information about the mill and machinery is available at the mill, which is open to the public. The layout of the machinery differs from most of the other watermills in the area.

The machinery was brought here from North Molton Mill. (J.E.T. 1988. R.A. 1989).

Read more about North Devon Water Mills from The North Devon Archaeological Society.

Saw Mills and Farm Mills at Combe Martin

The Mills Archive (Mills Research Database) lists a water-powered (watermill) Saw Mill, and a farm watermill at Wheel Farm, Combe Martin. 

Combe Martin Smelting Mills | Combe Martin industrial History | Combe Martin Silver Mining

Mills Before the Industrial Revolution 

The several types of mills before the Industrial Revolution include flour (grist) mills, bark mills, pumping mills, flax mills, ore mills, saw mills and watermills.

Waterwheels were once used to drain mines besides milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering, 

In 1870, watermills still produced two-thirds of the power available for British grain milling. By the early 20th century, cheap electrical energy made the watermill obsolete. 

The Corn Laws 1815-1846 in the United Kingdom

Between 1815 and 1846, corn was scarce in the UK because - under pressure from landed groups - government protectionism blocked the import of most cereal grain including wheat, oats and barley. 

Grains became too expensive to import from abroad, even when food supplies were short. Locals were forced to buy grains from local landowners at inflated prices, and grind it locally.

Documented and Lost Mill Sites

Water mills were once the main source of power other than oxen, and they were used to grind grain.

In the North Devon District alone, there are over 100 documented former mill sites, yet the number of lost mills and sites in the district would put the total much higher (NDAS, 1989). 

Efficient hydro-technologies existed in Roman Britain, and early medieval watermills - from the late 5th or early 6th century through the 10th century - were associated with either royal or monastic high status sites. 

The Peak of Water Power in Britain

The use of water power in Britain was at its peak just before the Industrial Revolution. There was a high demand for motive power before steam engines became established; one of the first steam locomotives pulled the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.

Other than muscle or animal power, until the nineteenth-century almost every industrial process needing motive mechanical energy used a water wheel or the less efficient windmill.

The Domesday Records

In 1086 the Domesday Book listed around 6,000 mills in the country, the majority of which must have been established by or during the late Anglo-Saxon period.

Six thousand mills in the country should be considered a low estimate because Domesday is incomplete (Open Domesday online, 2023). No mills are listed for Combmartin in the Domesday Book.

Combe Martin Grist Mills and Mining with Water Power

Mill numbers reached a peak in the early 14th century, with thousands of watermills and windmills in England. The invention of mechanical fulling by water power was apparently introduced to these islands by religious orders.

Most villages had a mill to grind corn, but the mills could be turned to other uses. Fulling mills for woollen cloth-making turned England into a major cloth-making country from the 14th century. 

Evolution of Watermills

Medieval mills evolved over the centuries and by 1850 there were 30,000 watermills in the UK.

Victorian technology and new generations of millers improved efficiency under the insatiable demand for corn, cloth, timber, tanning bark, metal ores and flour.

British Mills from the 16th Century Onwards

By the 16^th century, mills were adapted to paper-making, lead-smelting and tanning.

The most dangerous of these was gunpowder-making, and the risk of violent explosions meant that powder mills were generally sited well away from towns and villages.

At the Industrial Revolution circa 1760 to 1840, large-scale spinning mills were common in Britain. A grist-mill was a mill used exclusively for grinding grain for local consumption. In merchant mills, flour was ground and packed for sale.

North Devon Archaeological Society (NDAS, 1989) states that old corn mills and many medieval tucking mills -also known as fulling in woollen cloth-making- were sited by streams in remote rural areas of North Devon. 

Siting and Operation of Watermills

Suitable heads of water on rivers and leats were required to work the wheels, and Mill cottages can be found at the side of leats in Combe Martin today.

They are evidence of a thriving albeit long-forgotten and vanished mill industry. 

Millwrights chose the sites so well that they often continued in use for successive mills adapted for other purposes over centuries.

Settlements of millers, carpenters, wheelwrights and other craftsmen, grew up around these mills which were supplied by merchants and by local spinners and weavers. 

Ownership of Medieval Mills in England and Wales 

In the countryside, most medieval mills were owned and leased-out by lords of the manor.  Watermills were valuable assets, and lords retained their milling monopoly for centuries.

Even by 1840, tenants of the Rolle estate in Landkey were obliged to ‘cause all the corn, grain or malt used on their premises, to be ground at the mill of Lord Rolle within the manor of Landkey’ (NDAS, 1989). 

Waterwheels in Iron Works

Waterwheels also produced Pig Iron -the product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel and a clean reducing agent such as coke- usually with limestone as a flu. The bellows blowing air into furnaces were water powered.

In the 16th-century, waterwheel-powered bellows blew air into furnaces; the water wheel was connected to the bellows through a series of crankshafts (Watts, M., 2002). 

North Devon’s cloth industry had declined by 1815, yet watermills had another century of life. Most surviving wheels and mill machinery date from this period.

Iron waterwheels and hybrids -part iron, part wood- superseded the old wooden wheels. Iron wheels could be 22 feet by six feet in size, with iron shafting and drums. 

By means of pinions, iron shafts, belts and pulleys: hybrid waterwheels could drive all kinds of machinery, on farms and in factories appropriately called mills.

After tucking mills declined, waterwheels worked heavy hammers and even pumped water out of pits. 

The Many Uses for Waterwheels 

Waterwheels helped to beat leather, cut timber and drive forges. And they were used for stamping and crushing metal from the mines on Exmoor.

A "stamp mill" is a type of hammer equipment used to crush rock containing ore, and it can also mean the site complex. 

North Devon Archaeological Society states that in Victorian times, watermills significantly improved agriculture and other industries in North Devon (1989, p.11).

Combe Martin was no exception according to the many visiting topographers and chroniclers of the time. 

Where there was a good water supply, farmers built or adapted waterwheels to power agricultural machinery for threshing, milling cattle feed, pulping straw and roots, and sawing wood, all at faster and more efficient rates.

In the 19^th century, North Devon water power also helped to grind bark for tanning, and to make better tools for miners and tradesmen. 

To use water-power, the ground must slope down to a lower elevation over the distance the water is channelled, so that the water comes in at the top of the mill wheel and is let out at the bottom.

Overshot waterwheels are fed by water hitting near the top of the wheel and in front of the axle, so that it turns away from the head race.

The Decline of Waterwheels in North Devon

Mechanical ingenuity enabled instrument makers to attach rotary grindstones, drilling machines, and circular saws, to shafts driven by large waterwheels.

Yet North Devon watermills declined after the Second World War, when most farm and corn mills were forced out of the market by changing circumstances (NDAS, 1989).

North Devon AONB Information

Some information is contained in Silver, Smoke and Strawberries - A self-guided, circular, 6 mile walk around Combe Martin (National Trails, North Devon AONB). This book is available from Combe Martin Museum and Information Point, on Cross Street.

© Author J.P. for Combe Martin History Project, 2023 - 2026

Bibliography:

Regional Archaeology and Historical Context

Devon County Council. Historic Environment Record (HER): Combe Martin Parish – Mills, Leats and Water Management Features. Devon Historic Environment Record.

Hoskins, W. G. (1954). Devon. New Survey of England Series. London: Collins.

Minchinton, Walter E. (1977). Industrial Archaeology in Devon. Dartington: Dartington Amenity Research Trust.

Slade, H. Gordon. (1970). "The Watermills of North Devon." Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol. 102, pp. 215–242. (Verify citation details before publication.)

Watermill Engineering and Industrial Archaeology

Reynolds, John. (1970). Windmills & Watermills. London: Hugh Evelyn.

Syson, Leslie. (1980). The Watermills of Britain. London: David & Charles.

Watts, Martin. (2002). The Archaeology of Mills and Milling. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Watts, Martin. (2006). Watermills. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications.

Documentary and Archival Sources

Combe Martin Local History Group (1989): Out of the World and Into Combe Martin. Combe Martin, Rotapress.

The National Archives. Manorial Documents Register: Manor of Combe Martin.

The National Archives. Estate, tithe, enclosure and manorial records relating to Combe Martin and surrounding parishes (as applicable).

Historic Building Conservation

Historic England. Watermills: Understanding and Recording Historic Watermills.

Historic England. Understanding Historic Buildings: A Guide to Good Recording Practice.

References:

Bond, C.J. (SPAB 1995): Medieval Windmills in South-western England. Gazetteer. Occasional Publication no. 3 from the SPAB Wind and Watermill Section.

Exmoor National Park HER: https://www.exmoorher.co.uk/globalsearch/index?q=mills.

Harrison, J.P. (2023): Combe Martin Hemp Archaeology. Combemartinvillage.co.uk.

Historic England (2023): Mill Dam with Weir Sluice Gates, and Mill Race. List Entry Number: 1205060.

Holt, R. (1988): The Mills of Medieval England. Basil Blackwell.

Manco, Jean: www.buildinghistory.org/buildings/mills.shtml/. Accessed July 30 2023.

Medieval Genealogy (2023): https://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/fines/index.shtml.

Mills Archive Trust (2023): Watermill, Combe Martin. ID 5739 Water-powered sawmill.

North Devon Archaeological Society (1989): North Devon Watermills. Barnstaple.

Out Of The World And Into Combe Martin; "THE MILLS". Combe Martin Local History Group (1989). Rotapress Combe Martin.

Parracombe.org.uk (2024): Parracombe 100 objects Village Walk and Map.

Powell-Smith, A. (2023): Domesday data created by Professor J.J.N. Palmer and team.

Smugglers’ Mills and Nefarious Thrills – The Mills Archive. Accessed July 17, 2024.

Watermills in North Devon 1994 Group: Watermills in North Devon 1994. Kingsley Printing, Ilfracombe.

Watts, M. (2002): The Archaeology of Mills and Milling. The History Press LTD, 2002.

Watts, M: Watermills and Waterwheels (2018): online book (July 2023).